Unlocking the Apapa traffic gridlock

The Apapa, Lagos traffic gridlock seems to have defied all solution. With a sea port and 57 tank farms, Apapa attracts heavy duty trucks, which during fuel scarcity, constitute a menace on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, throwing residents and motorists into panic. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE and MIRIAM EKENE-OKORO examine the Lagos State Government’s efforts to address the problem.

To many motorists, Apapa has become a nightmare. They are subjected to traffic gridlock caused by trailers and petrol tankers trying to access the port and the tank farms.

The situation has worsened in the last three years, forcing many residents and businesses to relocate from the area. The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) claim to have lost over N7 trillion to the traffic lockdown.

Giving Apapa a proper traffic traction was one of the headaches of former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola. Daily, his phone number, which he made public, was inundated with calls, text messages and emails from motorists, complaining about their hardship in moving in and out of Apapa.

Fashola’s visit to the area on a Sunday, few months back, left him speechless. Scores of trucks and tankers were parked indiscriminately on the road for days, with their drivers nowhere to be found. Several times, the tankers were ordered to vacate the roads, but the ultimatums merely brought temporary reprieve.

In no time, the tankers would return, and in full force. Soon, Fashola’s Sundays were dedicated to on-the-spot assessment of the situation but it yielded no fruit.

At the climax of the general elections, Apapa became a dead end. Businesses were threatened. Those who could not withstand the nightmare relocated. Some workers were forced to work from their homes, while others looked for greener pastures. Car owners dumped their vehicles.

The situation was not helped by fuel scarcity. Petrol tankers from various parts of the country who had made their way to Lagos to lift the product were stranded.

Lillian Emmanuel, who has worked in a new generation bank in Apapa for over eight years, told our reporter that during the period, she had to engage a commercial motorcycle operator, otherwise known as okada man, to take her to and fro her place of work for an agreed fee.

“I spent over half of my salary on transportation. I have no choice because that is the only way I could get to the office and return home on time,” she said.

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode’s baptism at Apapa wasn’t palatable either. When he visited Apapa penultimate Thursday, the governor and all his aides who were visiting major traffic points in the area, had a taste of the nightmare.

Twice, the convoy had to retreat and seek escape routes as the trailers and petrol tankers had virtually taken over the roads.

When he alighted from his vehicle, the look on his face showed his disdain for what has become of Apapa, a once-viable commercial hub and, arguably, the main artery of the nation’s economy.

Ambode there upon appealed to the Federal Government to pay the contractor awarded the construction of the road to enable him return to site.

He was disturbed by the traffic gridlock residents and motorists face daily, which is largely due to the indiscriminate parking of articulated trucks by drivers attempting to access the port and tank farms within the axis.

He said: “What we have done in the last three hours is trying to find out the issues peculiar to Apapa. We’ve all seen that the gridlock in Apapa is multifaceted and we observed that they relate to activities of trailer and tanker drivers on the road.”

Alluding to the fact that the network of roads in Apapa belong to the Federal Government, he lamented that the Tin Can Bridge, which has been under construction for about six years, was abandoned, noting that this has given rise to tankers parking indiscriminately on the road.

“It is totally unacceptable that we would be having tankers and trailers on our bridges. It is also not acceptable that they would decide to block all lanes that lead to Apapa. We’ve also seen that we must do something immediately to alleviate the challenges that the residents and businesses are facing.

“But again, you’ll also realise that the roads that lead to Apapa Wharf and Tin Can Island actually belong to the Federal Government.

It is unacceptable that the Tin Can Bridge, has been under construction for six years. We’ve also seen a trailer park that can actually contain about 500 trailers, that has been abandoned by the Federal Government.

“What we want to do now is firstly to appeal to the Federal Government and, most especially, Mr. President that the contractor working on this particular bridge should come back to site and once we are able to open the trailer park, we would be able to allow other trailers and tankers to use the park.”

The governor also expressed concern about the activities at the 57 tank farms in the area, saying they constitute great security challenge for the state government, adding that their owners will be summoned for a meeting soon.

“The greater part of this challenge is posed by the tank farm owners. As we speak, we have 57 tank farms around Apapa alone; that’s a major security challenge for the government.

“We have to start to look at the security issues relating to these tank farms. All trailers across the country come to these tank farms and the tank farm owners would be summoned to a meeting. They must tell us their remedy for the traffic menace in Apapa.”

As a palliative measure towards ensuring free flow of traffic, Governor Ambode said a task force would be immediately set up to ensure 24- hour surveillance of traffic flow, stressing that the Lagos Road Traffic Law will be strictly enforced.

“Right now on our part, the immediate palliative is that we would set up a task force that would involve most of our security agencies including the police and we would do a 24/7 monitoring of the area and free up traffic.

“We would pay more attention to enforcement. From this evening, you would see that there would be more attention on enforcement and we would also fund that enforcement. We are going to give incentives to our law enforcement officers to ensure that the Lagos Traffic Law is obeyed,” he added.

The governor also assured that there would be regular road repair to address the deplorable state of some of the roads.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, who was at the event, before he was deployed last week, said the concern of the Police was to nip in the bud the rising crime rate in the area.

“What we have observed in the last one year, due to the poor road network, is that most of these trailers always collapse and when this happens, you see a lot of hoodlums coming around to steal the items meant to be freighted to other parts of the country.

“By the time we have very good road network in Apapa area, it would lead to free flow of traffic and less criminality. An improved partnership between the police and the state government would enable us to reduce all forms of criminality around this axis. It would boost the national and state’s economy.

For Commodore Daniel Ikoli, Commander, NNS Beecroft, Apapa Naval Base, “We are partnering under OP MESA. We are supporting the state government and the police in ensuring security within Apapa area. Under that same platform, we have also been actively involved in ensuring the traffic flow in Apapa, we try to ensure that everybody that moves into Apapa have free flow of traffic.”

Less than 48 hours after the governor’s visit, the General Manager Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Mr Babatunde Edu, led a team of LASTMA, the Police and Navy on the rescue mission aimed at making the road accessible to all road users.

Edu said over 50 trailers were removed from the area in accordance with the government’s zero tolerance for gridlocks and indiscipline and also to checkmate tanker drivers’ excesses and restore sanity in Apapa.

He said the government would sustain the onslaught to ensure that every citizen has a right to use the road and ensure that the road is not closed up and used only by tankers or trucks again.

He recalled that several efforts had been made in the past to restore sanity and the old glory of Apapa, but that these have always been truncated by recalcitrant drivers.

He said: “This time round, the enforcement will be continuous as the agency is out to ensure that all tanker drivers comply with government’s directive.”

According to him, series of meetings have been held with the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of the National Union of Petroleum and the Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to educate their members and ensure that they desist from indiscriminate parking and indiscipline as these could pose danger to other road users.

He urged tanker drivers to adhere strictly to the new directive, as the government would not hesitate to enforce traffic rules and regulations to the latter whenever they violate the law.

Edu called on the public to take possession of the cleared roads, and not hesitate to inform the agency of any broken down or abandoned tankers and trucks on the expressway as LASTMA has been empowered to respond promptly to such distress and remove them to pave way for uninterrupted traffic.

There is need to engage a holistic solution to the Apapa highway crisis as law enforcement approach alone nor infrastructural upgrade can resolve it. We have designed a system aimed at de-congesting the Apapa road sustainably as well as continuous management of recorded success, without impeding on the advantages of any impacted party. Our idea is unique and stemmed from our long experience trading petroleum products in the oil depots adjoining the Apapa port access roads. We are ready to work with the LASG, NPA, FGN or any concerned party on this matter. We can be reached on 08032673330.